Note for non-Australian visitors

In Australia "Liberal" is Right-Wing Neo-Cons; economically liberal, socially repressive, tax the poor to subsidise the rich. Republican is also a good thing, as opposed to being a lackey of the British monarchy.

Little did Tony Abbott know that for decades to come he will be the “this man” Prime Minister Julia Gillard is referring to when she says “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man”.

Maybe it is cultural-cringe – nothing validates Australians like having celebrities from elsewhere on the planet praise us (think of all those imported C-grade wannabes and neverwillbes that turn up for awards ceremonies and big events from judging TV singing competitions to the Logies to Meatloaf and Billy Idol at football grandfinals).

Regardless, it is one more nail in the coffin of the increasingly irrelevant Canberra Press Gallery who continue their failure to see how much of a game changer That Speech was.

If a word has changed meaning – and most words shift in meaning over time, then dictionaries reflect that. Dictionaries reflect actual use not proscribe use – or we would all be talking like Chaucer or Shakespeare (who invented about 10% of the words he used apparently)

Ahhhh! I always knew Stephen Fry had taste! I’ve always felt that misogynist is a bit extreme, given it’s dictionary explantion, and think that we should resurrect ‘Male chauvinist pig’. Except in Abbott’s case maybe it should be ‘Male Chauvinist Thug!’ Inclusive of the exclamation mark. 😉